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Contents |
Day 1 |
Day 2 |
Day 3 |
Day 4 |
Day 5 |
Day 6 |
Day 7 |
Malta - Day ThreeSt. Paul's Catacombs |
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Now there are a lot of things I'd love to tell you about St. Paul's Catacombs. I'd love to tell you that they are stirring reminders of Christianity's earliest days and the struggles they faced in the Roman world. I'd love to tell you that the fine craftsmanship of the Roman catacomb diggers was on display in a most exquisite form. I'd also love to tell you that the insights into Roman burial rituals and funeral rites were an unusual look into the distant past of a great civilization. And I suppose I would be correct in many of these things. But it's hard to get that excited about a hole in the ground. Some of my Best Friends are Holes in the GroundNow don't get me wrong, it is a very nice hole in the ground. It was warm, dry and pretty cozy, all told. It had plenty of space and, with a little sprucing up, it would be a great place to entertain or raise a family if you, your guests and your family don't mind the dead. And the archways, hallways, stairways that have all been carved out of the very rock itself is a testament to the tenacity and industry of man. It was also very impressive, since it was so enormously extensive. Even the relatively small part of the catacombs that we saw covered a lot of real estate, and there were side chambers, entrances, hallways and galleries that stretched out into other areas that were not on the tour. If you took a turn into a blocked off area, you could get very, very lost in a very, very nasty way, since the catacombs were so extensive and confusing. Not the mention somewhat dangerous, as evidenced by the areas that were blocked off by old cave-ins. Furthermore, it was an interesting piece of history, as the myriad holes, tombs, shelves and crevices designed for the keeping of the bones of the ancestors are a fascinating bit of history. And the dents in the ground of one of the larger galleries are, in their own way, an homage to that which that flowered into the artistic marvels of the churches we saw in Valletta and Mdina; because those dents show where an altar and columns once stood. But no matter how large or extensive or impressive or historical the hole in the ground is, it's still a hole in the ground. So I can only do so much with it. |
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Seeing a Hole in the GroundAfter buying our tickets and receiving our audio tour handsets, we got out of the rain and went down into a new world under the earth. We were met by a tall, wide chamber that sprouted cubbyholes in the walls, chambers, stairs and halls to all sides, and no discernable rhyme or reason in its layout, from what I could tell. It was as well-lit as one could expect from an underground tomb and it was interesting for the fact it was rather well-designed for being designed by grave diggers. Though I'm sure that they received some instruction before they began chiseling. |
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Speaking of which, I should note that the chisel marks are still very evident in the walls of the catacombs. It is a roughly-hewn style, as it seems the Romans did not think much of ornate tombs. Or they just weren't willing to pay for them. Of course, if they could pay for ornate tombs, they would have gotten mausoleums, which are above ground. The Audio Tour of a Hole in the GroundThe tour got off to a rough start when the first audio explanation turned out to be painfully interminable. As the first audio description kept dragging on and on from one barely interesting detail to the next, I thought we were never going to get out of there. We still had another church to visit and, honestly, the very, very long descriptions of Roman burial rites simply weren't that exciting for me. But at least we were dry, which was far better than our experience outside. |
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We saw the various styles of catacomb tombs, including large family plots, wall niches, large raised tombs beneath carved-out arches and tombs that once lay under the floor. The nice lady in the audio tour provided thorough explication of everything and then some, and she was even nice enough to point out where we could see some remnants of paintings that still remained. Unfortunately, because it was an audio tour of a darkish, fairly featureless area, Chris and I stood there turning around in circles and peering around and under dark archways to try to find some faded bit of paint that may or may not have been there. |
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We had a little more luck with the carved letters that still existed in the side of one of the tombs. But they were still almost impossible to make out, so we had to take the audio tour's word for it on what they spelled. I think one letter was an 'X'. It was interesting, then it was over, then it was time to get outside into the rain again. So we got out there and headed to our next destination: St. Agatha's Church and Catacombs. However, when we got there, we discovered that the church was holding Mass and the catacombs were closed, so we headed back to catch the bus. |
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